In this post:
THE HOTEL
The Conrad Hotel is owned by Hilton and named after their founder, Conrad Hilton.
Being a Hilton Hotel it means you can earn and redeem your Hilton Honours Points. From 70,000 a night for this hotel specifically.
The hotel has been located in the same building since it opened in 1989 and comes with 191 rooms consisting of a variety of rooms and suites including one presidential suite.
Hilton covered a proportion of my stay in order for me to bring you this review.
The hotel isn’t the biggest, but it does have a highly rated restaurant, large bar and gym good enough to assist in most workouts.
Located in Earlsfort Terrace which is very central Dublin it is positioned perfectly for most locations. If you are a walker, you’ll be fine without taxis for the most part. We found everything we needed to do within a 15/20 minute walk which is great so we didn’t get any taxis or Ubers apart from to and from the airport.
The Conrad last had a major refurbishment in 2016 where they spent over £10m renovating all rooms and a minor update in April 2024 where they modernised the restaurant and bar.
CHECK-IN
We flew in pretty late and arrived at the hotel when it was already dark (around 6pm). The drive took nearly an hour which is the longest it has taken me to get into central Dublin. I guess, landing at 4:45pm and driving in rush hour didn’t help with that.
This trip was part of a positioning flight we needed to take in order to start our trip to Miami from Dublin, via London Heathrow.
As we pulled into the hotel, we were greeted by a doorman who opened our car doors and offered to take our bags for us. I was impressed by the lovely lighting and tones of dark on light. It looks very classy.
We walked up the steps and into reception to a grand welcome, as you would expect for a Conrad. The light and dark theme continued inside with clever lighting that helped with the warm vibe.
Check-in was quiet and we were seen straight away and served by a really friendly and welcoming member of the team. We had two rooms between the 3 of us. My friends had a Superior Twin whilst I had a King Junior Suite.
We didn’t have breakfast as part of our booking but were offered it at check-in, however, we declined as we were flying out pretty early the next day so wanted to maximise our sleep. We needed to leave by 8 am in order to make our 10:25 am departure back to London Heathrow.
THE ROOM
I was in Junior Suite 131 and my friends were on the second floor.
Walking into the room I was really impressed by the size. Too often European hotels try to sell suites that just aren’t suites. Room 131 was though!
The large open plan living/working and sleeping area was again nice and modern with lovely wood herringbone floors. I am a sucker for herringbone!
The seating area was a really comfortable space. It had a large TV and a coffee table. Behind this was an oval table which had a smart flip out charging station. I really like tables like this at hotels because I mostly use them to put my bits and bobs on. It also means I can charge my items without having to spread them out over the room with the risk of leaving something behind.
The king bed was very comfortable for my sleep although the pillows were a little large for me but that’s a personal preference.
The room had a well-equipped wardrobe which consisted of a safe, ironing board and iron, hairdryer, robes and the usual items such as dry cleaning bag and shoehorn.
There was no complimentary water in the room which surprised me. Instead, you had to pay €4 for a bottle. The prices for the other mini bar options are generally standard, albeit on the expensive side.
I will add that during my turndown service, they left a bottle of water on the bedside table along with a really nice chocolate treat that came in handy when I got back from dinner.
I was really underwhelmed with the bathroom. I am unsure whether these were renovated in 2016 but I suspect not. It was very dated and not appealing whatsoever.
It was functional and did everything I needed it to do but I didn’t exactly ooze luxury which is expected with The Conrad brand. The shower was in the bath which is a pet hate of mine and the water pressure was pretty weak.
LEMUEL’S BAR
We visited the bar before heading out for dinner. We all sat at the bar and ordered a variety of drinks such as a lemon cocktail, rum and coke and a beer.
All were great and the setting was comfortable and cozy. The bar was quiet, but it didn’t dampen the atmosphere one bit.
You can also order lunch and dinner here with dishes such as smoked salmon, oysters, steaks and sandwiches/wraps.
THE COBURG RESTAURANT
With just a one night stay which we already had dinner plans for, we unfortunately didn’t get to experience the main hotel restaurant.
The fine dining restaurant serves classic Irish cuisine in a modern and contemporary setting. It is obvious that it was renovated earlier this year, and it looks like a great setting for a dinner. Next time I will be trying it out.
OTHER FACILITIES
Being a relatively small hotel there aren’t a huge number of other facilities such as a spa but they do have a decent gym with enough equipment to really put you through your paces.
There are several conference rooms that can be hired out and the hotel is also pet friendly.
SUMMARY
I really enjoyed staying at The Conrad, Dublin. Every team member we encountered were friendly and polite.
I liked the design of the hotel including our bedrooms and everything smelt great!
The only thing that put a shadow over the room was the bathroom. These really do need a renovation to bring them in line with the bedrooms and the rest of the hotel.
Other than that, it was an uneventful but enjoyable stay, and we would certainly stay again.
